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Axial Period

The axial period or age axial, is a concept defined by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers and relates the history of religions. The original term is Achsenzeit, that is to say the "pivotal age". The historical period considered is from 800 AD to 200 ACS ACS.

According to Jaspers, this period is characterized by the appearance of completely new ways of thinking, both in China than in India and the West. It was then that the foundations are laid for spirituality , simultaneously but independently. And these foundations are still a base for religions today.

Bibliography

Karl Jaspers , Origin and meaning of history, Plon, 1954.
Shmuel Eisenstadt (1982). "The Axial Age: The Emergence of Transcendental Visions and the Rise of Clerics." European Journal of Sociology 23 (2) :294-314.
Rodney Stark (2007). Discovering God: A New Look at the Origins of the Great Religions. NY: HarperOne.
Gore Vidal (1981). Creation. NY: Random House. Novel in which the narrator, the fictional son of small- Zoroaster , pictured to 445 BC. BC encounters he might have done during his travels with the main figures of the axial period.
Karen Armstrong (2006). The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions. NY: Knopf. Description semi-historical events and the middle of the axial period.
Yves Lambert (1999). "Religion in Modernity as a New Axial Age: Secularization or New Religious Forms? . Oxford University Press: Sociology of Religion Vol. 60 No. 3. pp. 303-333. A general framework for analyzing the relationship between religion and modernity, in which it is seen as a new axial period.